Horton Hears A Who: Need
by Reva Ewdrow
Summary: Jojo has been turned into a vampire. when Mel comes to call, what will happen? One-shot, an art trade with Megan the vampire Slayer. Let me know what you thought good or bad, i want to know!


Hello!

ok, so this is my half of an art trade with toastwithjam20 (from deviant art, i think her name is Megan the Vampire Slayer on here)

Her half AWESOMEEE:  
Part 1: toastwithjam20./art/I-brought-soup-1-94317392  
Part 2: toastwithjam20./art/I-brought-soup-2-94317530

ok so ive never done a vampire story before (or any monsterous creature story for that matter) so not so sure how i did on that part...sorry if i was off on the "vampire lore" or anything like that, i mostly made up any vamire-like traits that were in there

oh and i know most stories have Jojo's personality change when he becomes a vampire but...i thought id try to keep some of little jojo in tact in this one.

enjoy!

PS: Mel belongs to Toastwithjam20

* * *

Jojo shut his eyes against the looming darkness and pulled his knees closer to his chest. If he had tears to cry, they would have been streaming down his face, but his eyes were dry, his mouth was dry, his very soul was dry. The screaming, aching thirst clung to his every sense, fear becoming background noise, a quiet humming that hovered just beneath it. He bit his arm to hold back the dry sobs that threatened to break loose, and though his now deadly sharp teeth must have punctured the skin, no blood came forth.

He could hardly remember what had happened-- as he would to reach for the memories, they would grow fuzzy and dissolve to his touch, until the events were no longer a coherent story but only a jumble of random experiences pooled together in his mind.

_Mel. _The single memory surfaced and he clung to it like a lifesaving raft. He remembered Mel.

Before the unbearable thirst had racked his body, before the looming darkness had clouded his mind, he could remember the sun reflecting off her brown hair, remember her laughter filling the air, remember walking, hand in hand, up the path to the observatory….

"_You're blushing!"_

"…_am not…" he muttered, blushing further._

"_Oh right, so the fur on your face is just naturally red, right?"_

"_Right…"_

"_Of course, what was I thinking?"_

…her smile. He remembered her smile, the way it put the sun to shame, warming him more than it's paltry rays ever could.

But he didn't feel warm now. He didn't feel anything. Not the cold cement floor of the observatory that he sat on, not the slight breeze that came through the door that had for some reason been left ajar…

No. He only felt the thirst.

He began to slide under, began to forget. Fearful of what the empty darkness that threatened to consume him held, he fought to remember more, to distract himself from desire….

"_Pass me that wrench?"_

"_Sure," she leaned across the table, grabbing the tool from wear it lay and placing it in Jojo's open hand, planting a kiss on his cheek as she did so. _

"_Thanks," he smiled, his face flushing the pink color that she delighted in seeing._

"_Anytime."_

…he shivered and bit harder into his arm. What did he have to do to escape this? What did he want? What did he need?

"_I'll see you tonight." she whispered in his ear, before stepping out of his embrace and through the observatory door. "Ten-thirty!" she called over her shoulder as she made her way down the hill. "Don't forget, or there will be dire consequences!"_

"_No! Not consequences!" he gasped in mock horror. She turned and threw him a look before disappearing from view._

…he needed Mel. He needed to hear her voice, the sound that both calmed and excited him, stopped his heart and made it race. He loved that sound.

"Jojo?"

The sudden noise startled him, his head shot up and he scanned the room warily. The noise had come from outside, flying in through the crack in the doorway and rebounding off the walls that surrounded him. It made his head ache. He watched the light disappear from the room as the doorway was momentarily blocked by a figure approaching it. The door swung open, and the silhouette of a slender who could be seen.

_Mel._

"What, are you some sort of night creature now? What's with all the darkness?" He watched her move into the room, running her hand along the wall until it fell on the light switch. She flipped it up, filling the room with light that burned his eyes. He buried his head in his arms again.

"Jojo!" She gasped, quickly crossing the room and kneeling in front of him, placing a hand on his shaking shoulder. "What happened to you?"

He raised his head and his eyes met hers, causing her to recoil her hand in fear. His eyes…

The once warm, auburn eyes that she loved to gaze into had lost their brownish color, and now all that remained was cold, cruel crimson. But it was not the color that caused her to draw back her hand, it was the look he had given her. It was the look an animal would give his prey, a predator his victim--it was a look of pure, uninhibited hunger.

He lowered his gaze from hers and it came to rest on her chest. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Jojo, my eyes are up here."

He did not blush, nor look away as he might normally have. Instead, he raised his hand and gently placed it on the spot he was looking at. She gasped at the sudden contact, his fingers cold as ice.

But he did not hear her, he only heard the steadily accelerating thump of her heart.

_This is what I need_, he thought. _This is what I need…_

"Jojo," she put her finger under his chin and raised his head until his impatient, hungry eyes met her fearful ones. "What happened to you?"

That made him pause. She almost saw a flicker of the Jojo that she knew in his eyes as he thought back to a few hours earlier.

He remembered pain. Being thrown against a wall, his head colliding with its hard surface and stars blinking out his vision. He remembered a voice, cold and unfamiliar, whispering in his ear…

"_Why? Why should I let you live?"_

_He couldn't make any sense of the words, the aching pain in his head was overwhelming. He was drifting in and out of consciousness, darkness clouding his mind._

"_No reason? None at all? Well, that does make my job easier…"_

_He felt a sharp pain in his neck, then the curious sensation that he was being pulled out of himself, as if his very soul was leaving his body through that pain just above his collar bone._

_His mind desperately struggled to grasp something, anything in the darkness. Finally, the words that had been whispered began to make sense, and he knew his answer._

"_Mmm," his mouth was slack, and forming the words was nearly impossible. "M-Mel. Live…Live for Mel…"_

_His soul stopped leaving his body, the pain went away, and a haunting smile tainted red with blood loomed into his quickly fading sight. _

"_Ah…" said the voice. "I'm afraid that came a little too late. Life is far beyond your reach now."_

"_M-Mel…"_

"_But," the smile widened, "there are other options…"_

_The last thing he saw was the smile, looming crimson and deadly before his eyes._

_Then the darkness came…_

Mel looked at his face, the fear and uncertainty that filled his expression breaking her heart. Hesitantly, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. He shivered and buried his face in her neck.

"It's ok, everything will be ok…" She murmured, rubbing his back.

"R-run." He mumbled the words against her fur, muffling them as if he did not want them to be heard.

"What?" She pulled back, looking again into his eyes. The hunger was back, but this time, something else lingered just below the surface. It looked almost like…fear.

"Run. Now." His voice was strained, as if every word was forced. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he pushed her roughly, causing her to stumble backward.

"Jojo--"

"Now!"

The fear finally took hold and she turned and ran blindly, tripping over various tools and gadgets that cluttered the floor as she made her way deeper into the observatory. Her breath came quickly, panic accelerating it along with the beat of her heart. She could hear its thump resonating in her ears.

And so could Jojo.

"P-please!" Though she meant to shout the words, they came out as no more than a scratchy whisper. "Please, Jojo!" She didn't know what she was pleading for…mercy? Her life? Or perhaps it was just for some sanity, some sense among this chaos that seemed so unreal.

She stumbled up a staircase and pushed her way past a tangled mess of horns, diving gracelessly behind a large drum that towered over her head. Leaning her back against it, she shut her eyes, praying that he wouldn't find her. Her eyes shot open and she stifled a gasp as the lights went out, the overwhelming silence pressing against her ears. She glanced around quickly. She could just see the doorway to her left, looming like a ghostly light guiding her to her safety. Slowly, she rose to her feet and began to move as silently as she could in its direction, feeling as though her every step echoed across the room like a cannon. A shadow to her right made her pause, dread filling her every sense, before desperately she broke into a sprint for the door. Just as she reached the threshold, an arm gripped her waist and she was thrown into a wall, the impact forcing the breath from her lungs. She grew limp as the pain in her back took hold, and all she could do was stare into the deep red eyes that once were so familiar and mouth over and over again the same helpless phrase.

_Please, Jojo, please…_

He ran his hand along her neck, stopping at her temple and placing his icy fingers against her pulse, reveling in the feeling of her blood beating against his skin. He brought his face to her cheek and whispered in her ear, his voice breaking with the words.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry…"

_Please…_

He lowered his lips to her neck, still murmuring the words against her fur.

_Please…_

His teeth grazed her collar bone, sending shivers down her spine and making her fur stand on end.He found her jugular and, placing his sharp fangs against her, he began to give in to his thirst.

"Jojo." Her voice finally cracked to life, and she sobbed the word, tears finally spilling over. Jojo hesitated, thoughts and memories racing through his head. Her voice, echoing his name, rebounded of the walls of his mind, her laughter, clear and pure, rang in it's hollows, and one phrase--to him the most beautiful in the world-- broke through the darkness.

"I love you."

A sob wracked his body and he leaned his face into her shoulder, his thirst, though still there, momentarily restrained.

"I'm so sorry." It was all he could say as he collapsed into her arms, shaking uncontrollably as the thirst twisted his insides.

"Jojo…" She held him tightly, murmuring words into his ear as tears fell silently down her face. No matter what he did, no matter what he was, she would never, ever be able to stop loving him. And through the darkness and through the thirst, deep down in the remnants of his soul, Jojo felt exactly the same.

_This is what I need. _

_This is all I need._

* * *

Well, there it is! i think that it may have been a little choppy and the sentences have flowing issues...

w/e

let me know what you thought, i love feedback (good or bad)!!


End file.
